Family Ties
by printandpolish
Summary: Sandy's daughter, surrendered for adoption in 1968, comes looking for her biological father. Rated T for some bad language. Completed July 11 2006.
1. Prologue

_This story takes place about 30 years or so after the book. Darry is 49, Soda is 46 and Ponyboy just turned 43. I don't own the Outsiders or any of the characters created by SE Hinton. I only own the people you've never heard of. I also don't know Sandy's last name, so I gave her her creator's. Please R&R. _

**Prologue**

**August 1996**

When she heard the click, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for courage. But instead of a person, a man's deep voice said, "You have reached 918-528-4789. Please leave a message."

She hung up. She called back three more times and finally, on the fourth try, she waited for the sound of the beep, took a deep breath, and read off her prepared script.

"Hello, my name is Maureen Tull and I'm looking for Sodapop Curtis. I know an old friend of his, Sandy Hinton, and she asked me to look him up. Could you please have him call me? I'm on my cell phone at 212-669-5791. Thank you."

She hit the 'end' button and immediately began shaking.

_Oh, my God. I did it. It's done. What if he doesn't call back? _

_Mother of God, what if he does? _


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The phone rang four times before there was a mumbled "'Lo?"

"Sodapop, you ain't sleeping, are you?" Darry scolded. "It's almost noon."

Soda yawned, trying to get his bearings. He was alone in the king-sized bed and the house sounded quiet. He tried to focus. Saturday, right? Saturday. His family could be anywhere.

"Hell, yeah, I'm sleeping," he answered. "I was out half the night towing a wreck offa 75." He rubbed his face, trying to wake up. "I hate wrecks, man."

Darry sighed. "Sorry."

"Ah, it's no big thing, you didn't know." Soda stretched. "What's up?"

"I have a message for you." Darry still lived in the old Curtis house, where they'd all grown up. Over the years, he'd fixed it up considerably and now it was modern and neat and bore little resemblance to the messy, shabby home of their childhood. He looked around the kitchen. Nothing was the same, not even the appliances, but he could see traces of his teenage brothers, sitting at the old table, and a tearstained letter falling to the floor. He sighed, then asked, "Do you remember Sandy Hinton?"

"You never forget your first love," Soda said easily. "Or your first heartbreak. Gosh, I haven't thought of her in years. What about her?"

"Some woman left a message on my machine for you. Maureen something … wait a minute." Darry rummaged through the papers by the telephone. "Here it is. Maureen Tull. Said she's a friend of Sandy's and Sandy said to look you up. Want the number?"

"Sure. Hold on." Soda pushed himself out of bed and, clad only in his boxers, padded to the kitchen. His wife, Corrine, kept a memo board on the fridge. Soda picked up the marker. "Tull, like Jethro?"

"I guess. She didn't spell it." Darry recited the number.

"Okay. I'll give her a call. Lemme wake up and I'll call you later."

"I thought we were coming by later. Barbecue, Cory said."

"Oh, yeah, is that today?" Soda yawned hugely. "Okay. Bring potato chips or whatever she told you to bring. I'll see you later."

He hung up and rummaged through the fridge, looking for cake, which he still ate almost every morning. Corrine hadn't minded until the kids got old enough to ask to join him, and then cake was the source of most of the arguments they had. All that changed when Soda saw Bill Cosby do his routine about feeding his children chocolate cake for breakfast. He taught Shayne and Liz to sing "Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!" whenever Corrine objected.

There was a lone piece, wrapped carefully in Saran Wrap, with a note on top.

_Hi Daddy, I am at Wendy's Wendy Garrett's, not the burger place and Mom took Shay to get cleats and then to practice and then she's with Aunt Miranda. Don't forget the uncles tonight. Can you pick me up at 2? Call me and tell me, OK? I love you. I'm sorry you worked all night. Lizzy_

Soda smiled. Liz was 12 and still thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. She'd been Daddy's little girl since the minute she was born. Shayne was 15 and thought he, himself, knew everything and consequently, Soda and Corrine were stupid. At least twice a week, Soda wondered if he should call Darry to apologize for his moments of idiocy as a teenager. He'd once been arrested for walking around on his hands.

A Pepsi, the cake, and a shower later, Soda dialed the number Darry had given him, figuring he might as well while the house was quiet. Or before he forgot completely.

_Sandy Hinton_, he thought as the line began to ring. _How about that. _

"Hello?"

"Hi, is Maureen Tull there?"

"This is," Maureen answered. Her heart was immediately pounding. It was him. She just knew it was him. Oh. My. God.

"This is Sodapop Curtis. My brother said you called – something about Sandy?"

"Yes, I …" Maureen sat down on the hotel bed. "I … does the date June 11, 1968 mean anything to you?"

"Nope," Soda said cheerfully. "Should it?"

Maureen's heart sank. He didn't know. He didn't even know. "I … it's … oh boy. I'm sorry, Mr. Curtis, I … just …"

"Soda. Call me Soda," he said gently. "Just take a deep breath. It can't be as bad as all that."

"I just … I thought she might have called you."

"Who? Sandy?" Soda said. "Gosh, I haven't heard from Sandy since … well, since she moved to Florida back when --" His breath caught in his throat and he said slowly, "What's June 11, 1968?"

"It's my birthday," Maureen said in a rush. "I was born June 11, 1968, in Kissimmee, Florida, and I was given up for adoption. My birthmother was Sandy Hinton. I think … I think you're my father."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Later, Soda was never able to remember how long he stood in the middle of the kitchen with his mouth hanging open while Maureen cried quietly on the other end. He couldn't be her father. It wasn't possible.

"Did Sandy tell you I was your daddy?" Soda asked finally, his voice quiet and kind.

Maureen gulped. "No. Her father did. Sandy's … she died, Mr. Cur – er, Soda. Some sort of accident, in 1986. They wouldn't tell me the details."

Soda heard himself gasp. He did quick mental math – she had been only 35. As the heartbreak of her betrayal faded, so had the power her love had had over him. The few times he thought of her over the years, he wondered vaguely how she was. It had never occurred to him that she might be dead. Even with all the losses he had been through, it had simply never crossed his mind.

"I think he made a mistake," Soda said finally, but Maureen interrupted him.

"No, there's more. I have a copy of my original birth certificate. Your name is on it." Maureen paused to blow her nose. "Mr. Hinton said she was supposed to leave it blank, but she wouldn't, so then they had to try to find you."

"No one did," Soda said faintly. "I was here the whole time. I was right where she left me, until I was almost 26."

"They put a legal notice in the paper in Kissimmee," Maureen said, a note of scorn creeping into her voice. "Of course you didn't see it. It was legal bullshit to make sure you didn't find out and object. I mean – baloney. Excuse me. That Mr. Hinton isn't very nice, is he?"

Soda smiled, even though she couldn't see him. "Let's just say it doesn't sound like he's changed much," he allowed.

"My name is on it," Maureen said. "The name she gave me. Julie Diane."

Soda closed his eyes and groped for the kitchen chair behind him, sitting down heavily. Diane was also Liz's middle name – Elizabeth Diane.

"Soda? Are you there? I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"No," he said hoarsely. "No. Diane was my mother's name. She was killed in a car accident when I was 16."

At first, he remembered, he didn't believe her when she'd told him it wasn't his. Then he hadn't cared, because he loved her so. But it hadn't made any difference; she'd been shipped off to Florida and though he'd tried, he'd never heard from her – or of her – again.

He was not this woman's father. But if not him … then who? He'd never stopped to think about it. It had hurt too much. As unbelievable as it was, as he made peace with the fact that she'd been unfaithful, he'd almost forgotten the pregnancy. He had pushed it clean out of his mind, and Sandy became his first serious girlfriend, the one who had cheated on him. And that was all.

After a long silence, Maureen began to quietly speak. "I always knew I was adopted," she said. "My parents told me when I was very young, and I don't really remember a time when I didn't know. I have two older brothers and they wanted a girl, so at Christmas time, in 1968, I came home to them. I grew up in Florida and it was fine, it was nice, but I always wondered about where I came from, and why I had blue eyes, and where my weird hair came from, stuff like that. It's red, but not really, but not really blonde. It's hard to describe."

Soda ran a hand through his own hair, which sounded just like the shade she had just not described. _No. How can this be? _

"I called the adoption agency and they gave me what they said was non-identifying information," Maureen went on. "They told me she was 17 and living with her grandmother and she had been in Oklahoma until she got pregnant. I was really lucky. All the stuff was blacked out, but I could make out the street, so I went there and started knocking on doors. Someone remembered her so then I had the grandmother's name and address.

_I had the address, too,_ Soda thought. _I wrote her almost every day for two weeks, then the letters started coming back. _

"Her grandmother must have passed," Soda said. "I mean, glory, she'd be near 100 now, I'd expect."

"Yeah, that's actually how I found her. Sandy, I mean. I checked back issues of the newspaper. It took me months. I finally found her grandmother's obituary, and there were her parents. It said they lived in Tulsa. So I called every Hinton in the phone book until I found them. Mr. Hinton gave me the birth certificate and a picture, and he said you used to live over on 48th Street. There was a Curtis listed there, so that's where I called yesterday."

"My brother still lives there," Soda said. "Same phone number, for more than 50 years."

"You have a brother," she said. Soda could hear the click, her fitting in the pieces.

"I have two," he replied.

"Can I see you?" Maureen asked suddenly, then she laughed uncomfortably. "My God, that sounds like I'm asking you on a date, doesn't it? But I'd like to see you. We can talk. I have some questions, if that's okay. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn over on Broadway. Would that be all right?"

"Maureen." Soda took a deep breath. "You sound like a nice girl, but I don't know – "

"Maybe if we see each other, we'll know, then," she cut him off, trying not to sound desperate. "And even so, you knew her. Sandy. Maybe you can tell me about her."

Soda sighed. "How long are you here for?" he asked, thinking of his brothers descending on his house in a few hours. "Because today's not really good."

"It's kind of open-ended," Maureen answered.

Soda considered. What would it hurt, meeting her, saying hello? She was right; he could tell her about Sandy. It would give her the peace of mind that he was not who she thought he was. It would give him the peace of mind that he was not who she thought he was.

"I'll take you to breakfast in the morning, how's that?" he suggested. "I know where the hotel is. I'll pick you up at nine."

"Thank you," Maureen breathed. She paused, then asked, "Could I ask you one thing? Just one? Because I don't know if I can wait until tomorrow."

"Sure."

"Did you know about me?"

"I knew Sandy was pregnant, if that's what you mean," Soda said slowly.

"Well, then – I mean, didn't you want to know? Even if it was a boy or a girl? Even if –" her voice hitched. "-- even if you didn't want me?"

"It wasn't a matter of wanting," Soda said. "She told me it wasn't mine."

"But … forgive me for being so bold – but did you sleep with her?"

Soda didn't answer.

"Because, if you did, I mean, then maybe –"

Soda cut her off. "I'll see you tomorrow at nine, Maureen, okay?" And he hung up before she had a chance to answer.

_Sandy Hinton. Jesus, Mary, Mother of God. _He could see her as if she was in front of him, her china blue eyes, her soft voice, the way she had looked at him with such love, such peace. If it had not been for Sandy, Soda thought, he would not have survived the deaths of his parents. Darry was in full-fledged control, arranging the funerals and the bills and the guardianships and though he probably didn't mean to be, was completely unavailable to his brothers in those first few weeks. Pony had looked to Soda for comfort and reassurance. And Soda had looked to Sandy, crying in her lap night after night, crying unashamedly that he wanted his mother and his father, and then one of those nights, his hand had strayed under her dress.

And for the first time, she hadn't stopped him.

He sat there for a long time, interrupted only when the phone rang. "Hello?" he said cautiously, not thinking that he'd not given Maureen the number.

"Daddy?" It was Liz. "It's 2:15, you didn't call me. Can you come?"

A grin broke over Soda's face. He honestly loved both his boy and his girl equally, but there was something about the almost-worship Liz had for him that made it hard not to favor her. "I'm on my way, darlin', just got hung up here."

"See you soon, love you," Liz said, and hung up.

Soda grabbed his keys and headed for the door. _My daughter,_ he thought. _I have one daughter. _And then: _or not. Or two. Oh, my God, Sandy, what did you do? _


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Soda and Liz came into the kitchen through the side door just as Corrine opened the opposite door, which led into the garage. "Hey! Did you finally get some sleep?"

"What? Oh, yeah, couple of hours. Darry called around twelve and woke me up."

Corrine grinned. "What, did he forget he was supposed to bring potato salad? Men."

"Boys are dumb," Liz agreed. "Except Daddy."

Soda didn't answer. He was staring at the fridge, at Maureen's name and number, still on the message board.

"How was Wendy's?" Corrine asked her daughter.

"It was fine," Liz answered. "She said she might come by later and have a burger, is that okay?"

"Sure. If she can get a ride over, maybe Dad or I can run her home. A couple of the guys from Shayne's team are coming, so we can do one run. That sound okay, honey?"

There was no response.

"Daddy's weird today," Liz said to her mother. "He says he's fine but he's all preoccupied. He was like that all the way from Wendy's."

"Soda?" Corrine said, a little louder.

He broke out of his trance and smiled at her. She smiled back, relieved. "Want to give me a hand?" she asked. "I've got a case of water and a million hamburgers in the car."

"Sure, I'll be out in a minute. Lizzy, help your mom, 'kay?"

When Liz followed Corrine into the garage, Soda scribbled Maureen's number onto a napkin and erased the board.

* * *

The Curtis boys had always been close, but after their parents died they grew indivisible. It was more than brotherly love – it was that, but it was also a complicated relationship that was partly parental and rooted in the fact that no one, save the three of them, understood what it had been like to be the sons of Darrel and Diane Curtis.

They got together once every few weeks and talked frequently – Pony and Soda spoke almost daily. They had never lived further than 20 miles from each other, not even when Ponyboy was in college. Darry's wife, Marie, hadn't liked it at all. She thought Darry put his brothers first and eventually, claiming Darry was more married to the boys than her, left him. It wasn't really true, and there had been a myriad of problems, almost from the beginning, but that was the excuse she'd used. She was currently on her fourth husband.

Corrine and Suzanne, Pony's wife, were not at all threatened. They both encouraged the bond and thought it was sweet, but neither of them understood how deep the connection went. The men's devotion to one another was their survival. It was their brotherhood that enabled them to be husbands and fathers.

Darry arrived at Soda's house first, his son Will reluctantly in tow. Darry saw Will as often as the divorce decree and Marie's fickleness would allow, and no one but Pony and Soda knew it about killed him to not be raising his own child on a day-to-day basis. Will was 16, a year ahead of Shayne in school, and the cousins could not have been more different. Shayne was buoyant, confident and athletic. William was shy and bookish. He reminded his family of how Ponyboy had been, but unlike Pony, Will lacked an everyday foundation of love, so he had retreated into himself. He was uncomfortable all the time, even around his family. It broke Darry's heart.

Darry pulled a grocery bag out of the back seat as Will allowed Corrine to hug him. "Liz is inside with some video game," she said, and Will walked gratefully to the house.

Darry handed Corrine the bag and kissed her cheek. She looked inside. "Chips," she said in surprise.

"Chips." As Corrine furrowed her brow, he said hesitantly, "Not chips? I thought Soda said chips."

"Not a problem. You can't have too many chips."

A horn sounded behind them as Pony pulled in with his family. He and Suzanne had met at the University of Oklahoma their freshman year and had married right after graduation. They had three girls, Melanie, Jill, and Abby.

"Aunt Cory." Jill started talking before she even got out of the car, Abby right behind her. "Settle an argument for me. Abby is going to be seven, but she has lived for eight years, right? Because you have that first year, and the year you say you're one, you're really more than one, right?"

"You don't have to answer that," Suzanne said. "It's been like this all day. No one knows as much as she does. Ten is not a pretty age."

Corrine glanced at Melanie, who was leaning against the house. "How's 14?"

"You had a 14-year-old," Suzanne said.

"A boy," Corinne reminded her. "His feet stank and he stopped talking."

Suzanne sighed. "You should have seen the fight she had with Pony about what she wanted to wear."

Melanie went off to find her cousins, with Pony watching her worriedly. "She only wanted to come to see if Shayne's friends were here," he said. "She wanted to practically come topless."

"It was a halter," Suzanne corrected. As Pony glared at her, she held up a hand in protest. "I'm not saying she should have worn it, I'm just saying it wasn't like she was auditioning for Hooters, that's all."

"Is Soda cooking?" Pony asked. "I'm starving."

Corrine handed Pony and Darry each a beer, and then gave Pony a bottle of Pepsi for her husband. "Here, do me a favor, will you?" she said. "Go help him. I think something's bugging him. Something more than towing a wreck last night."

"Sure," Pony said easily. "C'mon, Superman, let's go." And he sprinted across the lawn, Darry close behind, yelling taunts over his shoulder about "old man" and "almost 50."

"Children," Corrine said.

"I know," Suzanne said affectionately. "Isn't it great?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Pony beat Darry to the grill by a yard, leaning over, hands on knees, breathing hard. After a moment, he handed the Pepsi to Sodapop. "Don't open it yet," he warned.

"Thanks. I think."

"Want help?" Darry offered.

"No, I'm good."

"Corinne said something's wrong," Darry went on, in his usual blunt way.

"Nothing wrong here," Soda answered hollowly.

"That's convincing," Pony said. Soda shot him a sour look and flipped a burger.

After a minute, Darry said, "Say, did you ever call that woman? What was her name, Maureen?"

"Shut up," Soda hissed, and Darry actually took a step away from his brother, taken back by the reaction. Pony looked from them, one to the other, puzzled.

Will walked by, reading. Soda reached over and pulled the book out of his hands. Will reached for it, expecting his happy-go-lucky uncle to grin at him and bonk him on the head before returning it. Instead, Soda almost glared at him. "Spend some time with your father," he said curtly, giving the book to Darry. "He doesn't get to see you enough."

Will gaped at him. "I –"

"I ain't kidding, Will."

Darry handed the book back to Will. "Soda –"

"See, and you're not helping either," Soda snapped. "What are you over here talking to me for? You see him twice a month. You talk to me all the time."

Darry's eyes narrowed. "You know what?" he said to Will. "Your uncle's right. Come on. We'll go down to the bookstore, stop for ice cream on the way." Before Will could render an opinion one way or the other, Darry steered him away.

"What the hell was that?" Pony demanded, watching Darry make some explanation to Corinne before he and Will got into his car. Corinne and Suzanne both turned toward their husbands. Soda grabbed Pony by the arm and pulled him around the corner out of their sight.

Pony yanked himself away. "What the Christ is wrong with you?" he said hotly. "Since when do you pick fights with Darry? And Will? Will, for God's sake! Because if this is just lack of sleep or towing a wreck or –"

"Just shut up," Soda said urgently, and something in his voice brought Pony up short. "I'm an asshole, okay, I'll call him later. Just listen to me. Remember Sandy?"

"Sandy who?" Pony wrinkled his brow. "Wait, Sandy Hinton? Your Sandy, from high school?

"Yeah. Her daughter called me."

"She's got kids?"

"One kid. That baby."

"What baby? You've completely lost me." Pony put a hand on Soda's shoulder. His brother was shaking. "What's going on?"

It wasn't until then that Soda realized Pony didn't know – he didn't know the details, anyway. He'd been in Windrixville with Johnny Cade when all that had happened, and by the time he got back, Sandy was gone. They hadn't ever talked about it; at first, Soda was too upset, then as time went on, it became irrelevant.

He closed his eyes, surprised to find he felt like crying.

"Soda, buddy –"

"She was pregnant," Soda said. "And when she told me, I figured it had to be mine, right? I mean, she was my girl, we were foolin' around. Who else's could it be?"

"I remember you wanted to marry her," Pony said slowly.

"I sure did. That week you were gone, I told Darry she was pregnant and I was going to propose. He was some pissed."

It had been a horrible fight, probably the worst fight they'd ever had, exacerbated by their worry over Pony's disappearance.

"So I went over to Sandy's to ask her," Soda continued, "and she said it wasn't mine. Her parents said she was goin' to Florida to live with her grandmother, and that was that. She was crying her head off, she said she never loved me, she'd been with other guys, all kinds of stuff. Her father just sat there, with his face all red, like he was going to up and have a heart attack. And then she was gone."

Soda met his brother's eyes. "That was one fuck of a week, Ponyboy," he said quietly. He'd never cried so much in his life, not even when his parents had died. He'd been worried about Pony and fighting with Darry and missing Sandy, and there had seemed no end in sight. He'd been utterly miserable. "Her mother finally felt bad for me and gave me her grandmother's address, but all the letters came back unopened."

"I remember that, now that you mention it." Pony rubbed at his face, trying to connect the dots. "Are you tellin' me she had this baby?"

Soda nodded. "A little girl. Well, she's grown now. Her name is Maureen."

"And this Maureen, she called you because, what? Because she thinks she's yours?"

Soda nodded.

"And … oh, my God, Soda, you think she's yours, too, don't you?"

"She says my name's on the birth certificate, and it sounds like she's got our hair."

Pony stared at him.

"And her name, before she got adopted, was Julie Diane."

"Whoa," Pony breathed.

"Yeah," Soda said miserably.

"Can you find Sandy somehow?" Pony suggested. "Maybe ask her? I mean, all these years, if she was lying, maybe she'd tell you."

"Maureen said she's dead. For ten years now." Soda banged his fist against the house. "God, Pony, I'm so friggin' stupid. How could I have believed that baby belonged to someone else? Her parents hated me, I knew that, and she was under all this pressure – how the hell could I have ever believed her?"

Pony stared at him mutely, with no idea what to say.

* * *

Soda crept out of bed at 6:30 on Sunday morning, leaving Corinne sleeping. He'd slept fitfully most of the night, imagining meeting Maureen. In his dreams, she looked like a cross between Sandy and his mother.

He'd tried a hundred times the night before, after the kids wandered off to bed, to tell Corinne what had happened. She kept looking at him, asking him without words, wondering aloud when he was going to call Darry. He was almost positive she'd understand. And if Maureen turned out to be his daughter, he was sure Corinne, when the shock wore off, would make her feel welcome. But he couldn't make it come out of his mouth. There was still a nagging doubt in the back of his mind, and if it wasn't true, why worry his wife? She wouldn't think it odd he was up and gone so early. She'd just think he was out on a tow.

He showered and dressed quickly and then, for the first time since he met his wife, Soda lied to her. He left a note claiming a breakdown on I-44, halfway to Edmond, and left the house.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sodapop Curtis stood in the lobby of the Holiday Inn looking at his daughter.

He knew she was his the moment he saw her. It wasn't just the hair, that peculiar color of red-gold that he and Ponyboy shared. It wasn't the small bump on her nose that his mother, Diane, had had. It wasn't even her long legs, representing Darry's height.

It was that she was reading. She was lost in the book in her lap, oblivious to everything around her, and as she read, she was fiddling with her earlobe. Ponyboy did that, he always had. Will did it. Liz did it. Even little Abby did.

Maureen was a Curtis.

Soda stood there, tears welling his eyes, hating Sandy Hinton more than he'd ever hated anyone in his life.

When Maureen looked up, there he was: a middle-aged man in jeans, work boots and a checkered shirt, his hands jammed in his pockets. She rose slowly. He was handsome and rough and rugged, but in a good way. He looked … he looked kind.

Maureen took a hesitant step toward him, not knowing what to do. But Soda knew. He had years of practice, beginning with Ponyboy and now with Shayne and Liz. He opened his arms.

Maureen closed the distance between them and hugged him before she could think twice about it. "Oh my God," she breathed. "It _is_ you."

"I didn't know," he whispered into her hair. "I shouldn't have believed her. I'm so sorry."

* * *

They didn't go out to breakfast. Instead, they went across the street to a convenience store and got a couple of Pepsis, a box of doughnuts and a cup of bad coffee, and went up to Maureen's room. It was a mess – clothes flung all over, the blankets halfway off the bed, books and tissues and CDs scattered on the night stand. It made Soda smile. It looked very much like the condition of the room he and Pony had shared as boys.

They settled in silence, but it was a comfortable quiet. Maureen cleared off the table (more books and CDs) and Soda set out a donut for each of them.

Finally, he said, "What did you want to ask me?"

Maureen made a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "Oh, God. Everything. When's your birthday, what's your favorite color, what's your job – everything."

"I'll be 46 on October 12. Green. I'm a mechanic by trade – I own a garage and gas station." Soda smiled. "That was easy. Do I get to ask too?"

"Of course." Maureen took a long swallow of coffee. "I've got caffeine, I'm ready. Go ahead."

But Soda didn't know where to begin. So instead of asking her anything, he started to talk, telling her quietly about falling in love with Sandy, and his parents dying, how Sandy had come to be pregnant and how Soda had lost both his girl and the possibility of being Maureen's father. Maureen told him about growing up in Florida, about her parents and her brothers, and about wanting to know where she came from.

"Your parents," Soda said, "do they know you're here?"

"My father paid for my plane ticket," Maureen answered. She blushed. "That's totally weird. My father paid for my tickets so I could find my father. But yeah, they know. They're fine with it. They really understood, and they helped me look for you guys. My brother Danny thinks I'm crazy, he keeps saying that Mom and Dad are my only parents, but he's their blood kid, so he doesn't get it. My brother Joe is probably hanging by the phone, waiting for me to call. I'm supposed to report to him on how this went. He's a little protective."

"I know how that goes, from both sides," Soda said. "Annoying as hell, but you kind of grow to like it."

Maureen looked at him intently. Soda was startled by how much her eyes were like Sandy's. "My mother kept telling me I should ask about genetic diseases and all that."

"There's not so much to tell," Soda said. "My parents didn't live long enough to be any kind of sick. Darry's near 50 but he can still carry two bundles of roofing up a ladder. We're all fairly healthy. I think my father's mother died of some sort of cancer, but I was pretty small."

Maureen nodded thoughtfully. "Have you told anyone about me?"

"My younger brother."

She looked at his left hand. "Not your wife?"

"Her name is Corrine. No, not yet. I wanted to see you first. I … I mean, I thought …"

"You wanted to be sure," Maureen interjected. "I know. I did too. Um … do I – do you have children?"

Soda pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "You have a brother and a sister." He flipped through the plastic windows. "That's Shayne, he's 15, and Liz is 12. That's Cory. Pony has three little girls and Darry has a son."

Maureen stared at Liz's photo for a long time, then got up to find her purse. She pulled out an envelope of pictures and, finding the one she wanted, laid it next to Soda's wallet. It was her seventh grade school picture. Liz had green eyes and Corinne's chestnut hair, but the resemblance in the faces was startling.

Tears were running down Maureen's face. "I never saw anyone who looked like me before," she whispered. "Not unless it was a coincidence." She looked up. "Can I meet them?"

"I expect so," Soda answered. "Let me talk to Corrine and tell them first, okay?"

"And your brothers, too?"

"I think that would be fine," Soda said. He glanced at his watch and stood up. "I need to get home. I wasn't planning on being gone this long."

Maureen felt a momentary stab of panic. Soda smiled at her, then scribbled on a piece of paper. "Here. This is our phone number. And this is the number of the garage I have. You can usually reach me one place or the other. And you have Darry's number, too."

"What do we do now?"

"Why, we get to know each other, that's all." Soda said. He grinned at her crookedly. "And I suppose we hope we like each other."

"I already know I like you," Maureen blurted out.

Soda laughed. "Why, darlin', I like you, too," he answered, giving her a tight hug before he left.


	7. Chapter 6

_A/N: To answer a question … Maureen is 28 – she was born in June of 1968 (when Soda was 17, going to turn 18) and this story takes place in 1996. Also, FYI, this plot is based on fact – it was common in the '50s, '60s and even the early '70s for young unmarried women to be sent away to have their babies, and then those babies were put up for adoption. Generally, society didn't see them as fit. It's very hard to believe in today's world. _

_On with the story. Oh, and I still don't own the Curtis boys. Well, I own Shayne and Will, I guess, but not their dads or uncle. _

**Chapter 6**

Soda had spent almost three hours with Maureen. Breakdown or not, Corinne was going to start wondering where he'd gotten to. He needed to get home, confess to his lie and explain what had happened. Even so, instead of going straight back, he found himself heading to the old neighborhood.

The houses, the Curtis one included, weren't as shabby as they had been 20 years ago. A developer had bought the vacant lot and put up a large, ugly condominium complex, and even though most of the old neighbors had been horrified when the construction started, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The people who moved in – Pony called them "wanna-be Socs" – committed themselves to fixing up the neighborhood and slowly, the property values increased and the criminal element decreased. The old park had been completely redone; new grass, new walking paths, new playground equipment, even a new splash park. Soda had brought Shayne and Liz when they were little. Pony wouldn't go near the place – there were too many bad memories, too many old ghosts that no amount of new paint could erase.

Ten minutes later, Soda pulled up in front of Darry's house. Darry's was still home in a lot of ways. Soda had moved out in 1976 and had only spent a handful of nights there since then. The whole place was new. One summer, he, Darry and Pony had taken down all the walls to the studs and rebuilt the rooms. Darry and his crew had re-roofed and re-sided it and replaced all the windows. The only thing original, they joked, was the foundation and the frame, but it still held the memories of their parents and their childhood.

Soda sat on the top step of the porch. He hadn't thought of Sandy in a long time, but now, having met their daughter, the memories were flooding back. He'd spent a lot of time on the porch that week, thinking somehow that if he watched the corner long enough, Pony would eventually come walking around it. He had been sitting almost in the same spot, with Darry leaning in the doorway behind him, when he announced he was going to marry Sandy.

"_You are 16 years old," Darry said flatly. "You are not going to get married." _

"_You can't stop me."_

"_I'm your legal guardian. I'm pretty sure I can." Darry swore under his breath. "What were you thinking, Sodapop? Where was your head? This is not why I let you drop out."_

"_That ain't fair! I'm working. I'm givin' you money," Soda protested. "What, you think we're just hanging out and screwing around? We didn't plan on it, it just happened! It could have happened to you! Hell, it's probably already happened to Dally!"_

"_Dally don't worry about paying bills," Darry said. "And Dally isn't worried about a boys' home." _

"_You say that all the time, like it could really happen," Soda said scornfully. "They won't throw me in a boys' home. And if you're worried about the bills, I'll still give you money, I'll still help you." _

_Darry snorted. "Yeah? How are you doing to do that? How? With a wife and a kid?" _

_"Is that what you're worried about? That the money will be gone?" Soda shoved himself to his feet, and faced his brother, furious. "How can you think that of me? How can you think I'd walk out on Pony like that?" _

"_I think you'll have to walk out on Pony like that," Darry snapped. "What do you think babies cost, Soda? Use your head. And if you're married to Sandy, you won't be living here – so what about rent, electricity? A phone to call the doctor if the baby is sick? You have no idea what it takes to run a house, or what it costs, and you sure as hell can't do it on what you make at the DX." _

_Soda gaped at him. He knew Darry would be mad, but he never thought he'd threaten to throw him out. _

"_Ponyboy's right about you," he snarled finally. "He thinks you're hard and mean, and he's right. And you know what else? He thinks you hate him." Darry gasped and the color drained out of his face, but Soda went on relentlessly. "He thinks you can't stand him, that you only let him live here because of me. And now he's gone, and why? Because you hit him. It's not that dead Soc, and we both know it, it's because you got pissed off and slapped him. If he's dead, or if he doesn't come back, it's your fault, Darry. It's your damn fault. And now I guess I'm gonna go too, and you'll be alone. Enjoy the fucking peace and quiet." _

_Soda's words shocked even himself, and as what he had said registered, he burst into tears and fled from the porch, leaving Darry standing stunned in the doorway. _

Soda shook off the memories and walked into the house. Darry was sitting at the kitchen table, the Sunday paper spread out in front of him. "Randle got arrested again," he said without preamble. "In Oklahoma City. It's on page 7."

Soda winced. "Drugs?"

"Of course drugs. Heroin this time."

Steve had been drafted and spent almost two years in Vietnam. He'd come back in '71, skinny, mean and with a new appetite for drugs. He'd never been able to shake it or to stay clean for more than a couple of months. No one had been able to help him, not Soda or Gus, the owner of the DX where they'd worked. Steve didn't care enough to try to kick the habit, and none of the Curtises had seen him in almost 15 years.

Darry was sorry Steve turned out to be such a mess, but he was also profoundly grateful that it wasn't one of his brothers in the police log every other week.

"I came by to tell you I'm an ass," Soda said, sitting down opposite his older brother.

"Well, you could have saved yourself a trip," Darry said evenly. "I know you're an ass. It's my boy you have to explain yourself to."

Soda glanced down the hall. "Is he here?"

"No. Back at his mother's." Darry folded the paper neatly. "You want to tell me what happened yesterday, should I try to figure it out, or am I just forgiving you because we're related?"

"That woman who called here looking for me? Maureen Tull?"

"What about her?"

Soda looked at Darry directly and was a little surprised to find a happy grin beginning to spread over his face. "She's my daughter."

* * *

It was almost two o'clock when Soda finally got home. As he came through the door, Corinne, Shayne and Liz were all sitting at the table, the remnants of lunch in front of them.

"Hey," Soda said. "Any baloney left?"

There was no answer. Shayne and Liz exchanged a glance and then Corinne said, "Go on. I need to talk to Daddy about adult things."

It was a phrase she hadn't used since the kids were preschoolers, and it made Soda's stomach plummet like he'd seen blue lights in the rear-view mirror. _Something bad's happened_, he thought, and sat in the seat his son had hastily vacated. "Cory, what's the matter?"

"You know I was with Miranda yesterday," Corinne said evenly. Soda nodded; Corinne and her sister were as close as he was with his brothers. "Her purse tipped over and her wallet ended up under the seat. I drove over this morning to return it to her. So, about 10:30, I went by the station, and you know what I saw? Or rather, what I didn't see? I didn't see the tow trucks missing. And I sure didn't see your truck there."

_Shit._ So much for getting away with his first and only lie.

"So I would like you to tell me where the hell you've been for the last six hours," Corinne said, struggling to keep her voice from breaking. "And if there's a woman involved, I'd like you to tell me what you intend to do about it."

"Sweetheart, you can't believe I'm running around on you," Soda said.

Corinne just looked at him, biting her lip. She wanted to be brave – hell, she wanted to be furious – but mostly she just wanted to there to be a plausible explanation.

In her wildest dreams, she never could have imagined what Sodapop told her next.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Liz tiptoed down from the top of the stairs. She and Shayne were in the finished basement, a large room furnished with a TV, VCR, videos and video games, an old couch and lots of comfy pillows and beanbag chairs. Shayne was playing Tetris. Liz was trying to eavesdrop and when her brother refused to mute his game, had snuck up the stairs to try to listen under the door. Her parents were just beyond it, in the kitchen, talking.

"I think Daddy's crying," she said worriedly.

"Dad's been weird since yesterday." Shayne kept his eyes on the TV screen. This sudden upset in his family's equilibrium bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

When their aunt Miranda had called that morning, looking for her wallet, Corinne had rustled the kids out of bed. "Come with me, we'll go to breakfast and then see if Dad's back," she said. "Maybe we'll swing by the station and bring him a Pespi." Therefore, both Shayne and Liz had been in the car when Corinne discovered her husband wasn't out on a tow at all. She hadn't said a word, just bitten her bottom lip, but neither of her children were stupid.

"Shay?" Liz said hesitantly. "You don't think Dad … I mean, there's no way he's … He loves Mom. Right?"

Shayne sighed and hit the 'reset' button, moving over to make room on the beanbag. "Come on, Lizzy, see if you can beat me," he said. "I'll spot you a couple thousand points."

* * *

Upstairs, Corinne listened quietly as Soda explained about Maureen. When he talked about seeing her in the lobby of the hotel, his voice broke, and Corinne went around the table to him, sitting in his lap and hugging him tightly. Sodapop was a wonderful father – when they were first married he couldn't wait to have children and she couldn't imagine how much it hurt him to discover he'd missed Maureen's upbringing entirely.

Sodapop buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"So I was right," Corinne said after a moment, kissing the top of Soda's head. "It was another woman."

Soda gave a small laugh. He had been 99 percent sure she would understand, and it would be okay, but that one percent had been sitting in the pit of his stomach all the way from Darry's. Corinne was his wife, his partner, and his best friend, and he wanted her support and guidance as he and Maureen figured out how they fit together.

"There's one more thing," he said.

"What? Are we grandparents?" Corinne pulled back to look at Soda. "Because I'm too damn young to be called Granny."

Soda's mouth fell open. "Glory. No. Well, I suppose we could be. But I don't think so. I think she'd have said. Hell's bells, I didn't ask."

"I'm sure she would have said," Corinne said gently. "What's the other thing?"

"Just that … well, I didn't tell you first," he admitted. "My brothers know. Pony knows we talked, but Darry knows she's mine for sure."

"That's all right," Corinne smiled. "Miranda knew before you did that I was pregnant with Shay. Come to think of it, I think Ponyboy did too, because he happened to call right after I found out."

"She wants to meet you all," Soda said slowly.

"Well, sure she does," Corinne said. "Let's talk to Shayne and Liz and then figure out what works. It can be tonight, even, I suppose."

Soda sighed, hugging his wife more tightly. "Cory. You are amazing. I love you so much. I bet plenty of other wives would be screamin' and cussin' about now."

Corinne snorted. "Then plenty of other wives are stupid. Cussin' about what? About something that happened when you were still a boy? Before we even met? I'll love her, Sodapop. She's part of you, how could I not?" She hugged him back, hard. "But yes, you're right. I am amazing. And I love you, too." She paused, the added quietly, "But you should have told me about this morning. That's what I ought to be screamin' and cussin' about. When I ever saw those trucks there …"

"You can't really think I'd cheat on you," Soda said.

"No, I don't, not really. But what would you have thought?"

"You're right," Soda acknowledged. "I'm sorry."

They sat for a moment in silence, then Corinne asked, "What are you going to tell the kids?"

The truth," Soda said simply. "Just what I wish I'd been told all those years ago."

He eased Corinne off his lap and walked to the door to the basement. "Liz, are you right there?" he called through it. "Because I'm going to open this and I don't want to knock you down the stairs."

There was a shuffling noise from behind it, then Liz called, a little out of breath, "No, I'm not, I'm playing a game with Shayne."

Soda opened the door. "Pause that and come on up, both of you."

He stood and watched them come up the stairs. Both his children were going to be tall – Liz already looked a little like a long-legged colt. Her brown hair was in a ponytail on top of her head. Shayne reminded Soda a lot of Ponyboy at that age – skinny, but not scrawny, and stronger than he looked.

"Come sit down," he invited. "We have something to talk to you about."

Shayne and Liz looked at each other. Shayne's face was unreadable but Liz clearly looked panicked. "Are you and Mom getting divorced?" she choked out.

"What? No, no, of course not." Soda sat on the couch. Liz sat next to him. Corinne took a seat in the chair across the room.

Shayne stayed standing, but after a minute, sat on the floor near his mother. "Are you going to tell us where you were this morning?" he asked. "Because Mom was fairly freaked."

"Shayne, hush," Corinne said.

"Well, you were," he mumbled.

"I'll get to that," Soda said. "I – you guys have a sister."

No one said anything for a long moment, then Liz said faintly, "Excuse me?"

"I had a girlfriend back when I was 16 who got pregnant," Soda said. "It was a different time back that, that was part of it, but part of it was I wasn't careful." He looked meaningfully at Shayne, whose ears reddened as he looked away. "She told me the baby wasn't mine and her parents sent her away to have it. But she lied to me."

"A steady girl?" Shayne said. At Soda's nod, he rolled his eyes. "And you believed her. That's pretty stupid, Dad."

Soda looked at him steadily. "Yeah, most of us are pretty stupid when we're around 16," he said pointedly. The redness in Shayne's ears spread to his face.

"That girlfriend – her name was Sandy Hinton – I never saw her again," Soda went on. "She died about 10 years ago. But her daughter, our daughter, called Uncle Darry looking for me. That's where I was this morning, visiting with her."

"What's her name?" Liz asked softly.

"Maureen."

"Curtis?"

"No. Tull. Sandy gave her up for adoption. Her parents named her Maureen. Maureen Elizabeth, isn't that funny?" Soda smiled at Liz. "And her name before that was Julie Diane."

"She was named for Grandma, like me," Liz said in wonder.

"Sounds so."

"How old is she?" Liz asked.

"Twenty-eight. Her birthday was June 11."

Liz counted on her fingers. "Daddy, she's old enough to be my mother, I mean, she could be, technically. God, you're old enough to be my grandfather. I never thought of that."

Corinne wanted to giggle, so she looked down at Shayne so Liz wouldn't think she was laughing at her. Shayne met her eyes and, to his great surprise, his mother winked.

"Does she want a kidney or something?" Liz asked.

"No, nothing like that. She just wants to see where she came from, is all."

"She doesn't want anything?" Shayne said in disbelief. "That can't be right. Did you tell her we're not rich?"

"Shay, what a thing to say," Corinne scolded.

"Well, how do we know she's telling the truth?" Shayne retorted. "Maybe that Sandy girl wasn't lying."

"No," Soda said. "And when you see her, you won't think so either." He leaned forward to brush Liz's bangs from her face. "She looks like Lizzy. Or I guess I should say, Liz looks like her."

"See her? What do you mean, see her?" Shayne demanded. "She's coming here?"

"We were thinking of inviting her to dinner tonight," Corinne said. "Maybe call your uncles. We'll have to see how Maureen feels; I imagine we'd be pretty overwhelming all at once."

Shayne stared at his parents as if they'd lost their minds. "Why would you do that? Ask her right in? Like she's part of the family? That's crazy." He shook his head violently. "I'm not meeting her."

"Yes, you are, and you'll be polite," Soda said sternly. "She will be a part of our family, if that's what she wants." It was a tone of voice he didn't often use, and even though Shayne was almost an adult, he didn't dare argue.

"So if you had known back then, would we know her now?" Liz asked, her brow furrowed. "Like, would we always have had her around?"

"If I had known then what I know now, you mean? Of course," Soda said quietly. "She's my child. I would have done everything in my power to be her father." He laid a gentle hand on Liz's face. "I love being a father. I love having children. It's the best thing I do."

Liz smiled and snuggled close to him. Shayne stood up and bolted across the room and out the back door.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

When the phone rang, Ponyboy didn't even bother to get up. He lived in a house full of females; there was always someone eager to race for it. He went back to the papers in front of him as Melanie came in and handed him the cordless phone.

"For you," she said. "Uncle Sodapop."

"Thanks, honey." Pony pressed the phone to his ear. "Hey."

Soda cut right to the chase. "I saw Maureen and she's definitely a Curtis," he said.

"Holy shit," Ponyboy breathed. Melanie turned around sharply and Pony waved her off, mouthing that everything was all right. "Wow. Um, do I buy cigars, what?"

Soda gave a short laugh. "I have no idea, little brother."

"I – wow." Ponyboy was not often rendered speechless. "Did you tell Corinne?"

"Yeah, and she was fine," Soda answered. "I was kinda surprised. I thought there'd be cussin' and hollerin', but she says it's not like I kept it from her, so it's cool. And Lizzy seems okay with it too, at least for now."

Ponyboy waited.

"Shayne ain't so impressed," Soda went on. "We were in the middle of talkin' about it and he went right out the door. If he shows up there, will you let me know?"

"Sure," Pony said. "We can keep him or return him, whatever you like." He crossed the kitchen and cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder as he poured a glass of water. "So what happens now?"

"Well, she wants to meet y'all," Soda said. "Are you around for dinner? We thought we'd order a pile of Chinese food and see what happens."

"Sure, of course," Pony said slowly, wondering if such a quick reunion was such a good idea. But then again, it was Soda all over, jumping right in with both feet, and not really looking around until he landed. "When?"

"It's almost four now -- how's 6:30?" Soda said. "If Shayne doesn't make an appearance by five, we'll track him down."

"That's fine," Pony said. "Hey, Soda? Are you glad about this?"

Soda paused to think about it – it was a question no one had asked him. He hadn't even asked himself. "You know what? I think I am. But I wish I hadn't been so dumb. Do you know, for months after Sandy went to Florida, I tried to figure out who it could have been? I'd walk around thinking, 'Shepard? Nah. Steve? No, he'd never do that to me, and Evie'd kill him. Johnny? He was so damn shy that was impossible. Maybe a Soc?' I wrote her, I told her I didn't care, but I never once thought, 'Good glory, she lied to you, go get her and your kid.' It seems so obvious now."

"A lot of things are obvious now," Pony pointed out. "We were kids. And we were kids without parents to guide us. Hell, Darry was practically a kid too. That also seems obvious now, doesn't it"  
"I guess so. I suppose we survived on dumb luck."

"Maybe." Pony said quietly. "I always kind of thought Mom and Dad were looking out for us."

He felt a little foolish admitting it, but Soda didn't laugh. He never laughed at Pony. "That's a right nice idea," he said instead. He sighed. "This whole thing seems like it's happenin' to someone else. You're the English teacher -- is there a word for that?"

"Surreal," Pony said promptly. "That comes close."

"Surreal," Soda repeated. "Yeah. I'll see you later."

* * *

Soda's intuition was right, though Shayne himself was halfway to Pony and Suzanne's before he realized that was where he was headed.

His aunt and uncle lived in a neat little ranch. Shayne dropped into a wicker chair on the wrap-around porch without ringing the bell. Ten minutes later, Abby came around the corner and stopped short when she saw him.

"Hey Abby," Shayne said, as if he was always there.

"Hi, Shay." She looked around. "Where's Uncle Soda and Aunt Cory and Lizzy?"

"Home, I 'spect."

Abby's eyes widened. "Did you walk all the way from your house?"

"Yup." And come to think of it, Shayne thought, his feet hurt. His cowboy boots were fairly new and very tuff-looking, but not really made for hiking four miles. He bent over and pulled off his left boot.

"That's a long walk," Abby said. "Want a juice box?"

"Sure, that'd be great."

Abby disappeared into the house. Shayne pulled off his right boot and wiggled his toes appreciatively. He leaned back and closed his eyes, and when he heard the front door open, he was not at all surprised that it was his uncle, not his youngest cousin, who handed him his drink. He took a deep swallow. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Pony sat on the top step.

"Did my father tell you?" Shayne asked finally.

"Tell me what, about your sister?"

Shayne winced. "Lizzy's my sister," he corrected.

"Hm-hmm," Pony said. "And from what I hear, this Maureen Tull is too."

Shayne dropped his head into his heads. "I just don't get it," he said to his palms. "I just don't get why everyone thinks this is fine and wonderful. And doesn't she have a family? Why does she need ours?"

"It is what it is," Pony shrugged. "Besides, why couldn't it be fine and wonderful?"

"Because," Shayne said, and his voice caught.

Pony was genuinely confused. "Because why?"

"I asked my father, if he had known, what would have happened," Shayne said slowly. "And he said he would have raised her. So … so that means no Mom. No us. Me and Liz, we wouldn't even exist." He was horrified to find tears stinging his eyes and he was helpless to stop them. "It's like all of a sudden he doesn't care about us. Like … like she showed up and she's what he'd rather have, you know? And my mother – she's not even mad about it. Her and Lizzy think this is amazing. God. How can that be? It doesn't make any sense."

"Oh, Shay, that's not what he meant."

"You didn't hear him."

Pony crossed the porch to kneel in front of his nephew. "It doesn't matter that I didn't hear him. I know that's not what he meant. I know he loves you and Liz more than his own life. Shay, buddy, think about it -- you're his firstborn, his only son. How can you even think he wouldn't want you to exist?"

"I'm not his firstborn anymore," Shayne said bitterly.

Pony mentally whacked himself in the head. There was nothing he could do to take it back. Finally, after a minute, he said softly, "I need to tell your parents you're here. We're headed over to your house in a while for dinner. You can stay here if you want to, but --"

"No, I can't," Shayne interrupted. "My dad said I had to be there." As upset as he was, Shayne would never outwardly defy his father. He respected him too much. He was too wrapped up in the self-centeredness of being 15 to understand that refusing to even discuss Maureen was disrespect in and of itself.

"Okay, then," Pony said. "I'll let you know when we're going. Come on in if you want to." As he got to the front door, he said carefully, "You know, I liked having big brothers. Maybe you'll like having a big sister."

Shayne shook his head. "Technically, she's my half-sister," he said. "And I doubt that. "It'll be like Liz annoying me, only worse."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Suzanne followed Corinne into the kitchen to get more chicken fried rice. "You know," she said in a low voice, "I feel like this should be weird, but it's not."

"I know," Corinne agreed. "But everyone is still being polite. It's like that MTV show the kids like – what happens when everyone stops being polite and starts getting real?"

"Yeah. I like Maureen, though."

"I do, too," Corinne answered. "It's hard to think of her as Soda's daughter, though. Or my step-daughter. Weird. We'll get used to it, I expect."

"She looks just like Lizzy," Suzanne said. "And she's got that odd hair. You couldn't deny her if you wanted to."

Corinne glanced into the dining room, where Darry and Soda were in the middle of some animated conversation. Maureen was listening, rapt. "Oh, I don't think anyone wants to do that," she said. She looked at the other end of the table, where Shayne, sitting between Will and Melanie, was slumped over his moo goo gai pan. "With one notable exception."

"He'll come around," Suzanne said.

"I hope so," Corinne answered. "Soda's already talking to me about Thanksgiving and Christmas and sort of splitting her with her family. He needs to slow down a little because it's freaking Shayne out. It's like he's trying to make up for 28 years as fast as he can."

Maureen was puzzled as well, though pleasantly so. She had done a lot of thinking and soul searching before deciding to look for her first family and had been prepared for dead-ends, denials and rejections. She had not considered that she might be welcomed with open arms. Of course, Maureen had no idea the Curtises had always had an open door policy in their house, even before their parents died, and with brothers who were not blood related, but were brothers nonetheless.

"Is Kissimmee close to Orlando?" Liz was asking as Corinne and Suzanne sat back down.

"Yeah, less than an hour," Maureen said. "I was tired of DisneyWorld by the time I was ten."

"We've been to Disney a couple of times," Liz said. "My dad's friend – um, Dad's friend, I mean -- works there. He sends us passes."

Some people run away to join the circus. Two-Bit Mathews ran away to DisneyWorld. His intent was simply to spend a drunken week meeting the Mouse, but he liked it so much he sobered up and stayed on. He was currently the assistant director of character relations, but still actually got into the Mickey costume at least once a week, just for the love of it. He had a wife and two little boys and the previous year, the Curtis boys and Curly Shepard, of all people, had helped Mrs. Mathews pack up her house to move in with Two-Bit and his family. Ponyboy often said that Mickey saved Two-Bit's life.

"It would be funny if we were there at the same time," Liz said.

"It would be," Maureen agreed, "but probably not, since by the time you guys were going I was in high school. At least."

"What was your first word?" Soda asked suddenly.

Maureen smiled at him. "Tiger. She was the cat."

"What's your family like?" Darry asked. "Do you get on with them?"

"Pretty much. I have two older brothers who I really love but they drive me crazy trying to protect me and tell me what to do."

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Ponyboy said, and everyone laughed.

"My parents are pretty terrific," Maureen said. "I can't imagine what it would have been like to lose them young, like you guys did. They helped me with this whole search thing, too, which I guess doesn't happen so often. They've been really supportive, and really glad it's turning out okay." She looked at Soda. "And they're really my family, I want you to know that. I mean, I want to know you guys, but they're my parents."

"Of course they are," Soda said gently.

Shayne dropped his fork on his plate. "Then why are you here?" he burst out. "If your family is so wonderful, what are you doing here? What do you want?"

"Shayne Patrick, you watch your tone," Soda said, calmly but firmly. "I will not have you speaking to Maureen like that."

Shayne turned to Pony. "You see?" he whined.

"It's all right," Maureen said.

"No, it sure ain't," Soda said stiffly. "His mother and I raised him better than that."

Shayne felt his face color and was embarrassed in spite of himself.

Maureen looked at Shayne him steadily. "I want to know."

"You want to know what?" he countered. "You haven't been here – you were with your own family. What can we tell you?"

"What time were you born?" she asked abruptly.

"What time … what?" Shayne stared at her, confused. "Um, 11:18 in the morning. What does that have to do --"

"I am 28 years old and I didn't know what time I was born until last week," she interrupted. "Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"

"I --"

"Look at this." Maureen flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and held a handful of hair. "Have you ever seen hair exactly this color, except on Soda or Pony?"

"No, but --"

"Neither have I," she said pointedly. "Look at yourself. Look how tall you're going to be. I'm taller than my father. And I look at Darry, and I can see why. I love to read – I love words. Pony teaches English. I like to tinker with things and I can usually fix stuff, even without directions. And check it out, Soda's been a mechanic his whole life, he just has this natural ability. Maybe that's why. You – all of you – you just know these things, because you grew up with each other. I wondered. I spent all my life wondering."

She took a deep breath, determined not to cry. "And some of those things are lost forever." She turned to Soda. "Julie Diane? Diane was your mom; who's Julie?"

"I don't know," Soda admitted. "Maybe it was just a name Sandy liked. It's no one to her, as far as I know – not her mom or her grandmother. Unless it was someone she met in Florida."

Maureen nodded, then turned back to Shayne. "And what about you? What's Shayne Patrick from?"

Shayne was beginning to feel very ashamed of himself. "Shayne's Uncle Darry's middle name," he said, almost whispering. "And my granddad's. Patrick is Dad's."

"And how long have you known that?"

"Forever," he said miserably.

"Exactly." Maureen looked at Shayne earnestly. "I'm not trying to take your family. But good grief, can't you let me borrow them long enough to answer a couple of questions?"

"Yes, ma'am." Shayne took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry."

Soda got up and went around the table, hugging Shayne from behind. He kissed the top of his head. Shayne leaned back into his father's embrace. "Good boy," Soda said. "That's how your mother and I raised you."

He looked over Shayne's head at Maureen. "Okay. What else would you like to know?"


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Soda was bent over the engine of a '93 Firebird when Benjy, his lead mechanic, tapped him on the shoulder. "There's a lady for you," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder as he came back into the garage. "Came in asking for the owner."

Soda straightened up and wiped his hands on a rag, heading into the reception area. A woman in old jeans and a sweatshirt, looking tired and dirty, was standing there waiting.

"Can I help you?" Soda asked.

"I'm looking for Sodapop Curtis," she said, a note of disdain in her voice, as if she couldn't believe anyone actually had such a ridiculous name. "I'm thinking that's you."

"Yes, ma'am," Soda said, pointedly ignoring her tone. When you ran a business, you were bound to run into a disgruntled customer every now and again, no matter how good your service was. It was human nature. Then he took a closer look at the woman. "Wait a minute … Debbie?"

"You remember," she said, the tone of disgust still in her voice.

"Yeah," he said. Debbie Hinton, Sandy's older sister by five years. Soda had only met her a few times, since she had already moved out when Soda and Sandy were dating. "What are you doing here?"

"I've spoken to my father," she said bluntly. "I understand Sandy's little problem has come back to haunt us."

Soda stared at her, completely befuddled, until he realized she was talking about Maureen. "If you mean I've met our daughter, then yes, that's true," he said pointedly.

"She's not your daughter," Debbie said. "She was adopted out. Sandy signed her away. She belongs to those other people."

"I didn't sign a thing," Soda said, "and I'm glad to know her. And I don't know what business it is of yours."

Debbie turned on her heel and walked out of the office. After a moment, she said impatiently, "Well, do you want it or not?"

"Want what?" Soda asked, but he followed her nonetheless. "Ma'am, you ain't makin' a lick of sense." He trailed Debbie to her car and waited while she opened her trunk and handed him a copy-paper box. Sandy's name was scrawled on the lid in black magic marker.

"This was at my grandmother's house," Debbie said. "When she died, my father had it shipped back here from Florida. Sandy was already dead then; I don't know why he didn't just toss it in the barrel with the rest of the trash." She opened the lid so Soda could glance inside. "Pictures, papers, clothes, I don't know what all."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

Debbie looked at him as if he were completely stupid. "It's not for you. It's for _her._"

Soda's eyes narrowed. "Her name is Maureen," he said. "And if you're all hell-bent on not seeing her, I don't know why you're giving me this."

Debbie closed the lid. "Because my father is dying, and he asked me to," she said. "I think it's a terrible idea. But I don't want her bothering him, and this is all that's left of Sandy, so if we give her this, she has no reason to call us."

_This is all that's left of Sandy. _The thought made Soda incredibly sad.

"My father gave her … he gave Maureen the birth certificate, but then he found the box," Debbie said. She looked as if saying Maureen's name caused her physical pain. "He's all worried she's going to come back for it. I kept trying to tell him she doesn't even know about it, but he insisted. So here. Give it to her. He's old and he's losing his mind, and I don't want him dealing with it."

Soda's parents fluttered through his head. His father would have turned 70 in May, his mother 69. He tried to picture them "old and losing their minds" and he couldn't. The image that came to him was always the same, from the last time he'd seen them alive: Darrel fussing at Diane to hurry up, or they'd be late, and Diane being sure there was enough cold chicken and chocolate milk in the fridge to feed her three boys and the other four that were always there.

"Do you have children?" Soda asked. Debbie raised her eyebrows. "Because if you don't have children, Maureen is your father's only grandchild," he went on. "Maybe he'd like to get to know her before passes on."

"I'm not married," Debbie said stiffly. Soda refrained from commenting that he could see why not. "And we are not that girl's family. I don't know why you think you are." She folded her arms and looked suddenly close to tears. "I don't know how this happened. That adoption agency promised Sandy that the baby would never come back. They promised her it would be _over._"

"What happened to her?" Soda asked softy.

"It was never over," Debbie replied. "She kept saying you were going to come after her and you didn't. The baby was born, they put your name in the paper and she kept saying you were going to come, and you didn't."

"_What?_ Are you kidding me?" His arms were beginning to ache and he set the box down at his feet. "I wanted to! I wrote to her, I wrote her all the time and the letters came back."

"Curtis, please," Debbie said disdainfully. "You don't really think my father would have let her hear from you, do you? I'm sure my grandmother just put them back in the box."

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Soda whispered. How could anyone be so cruel?

"She stayed on in Florida for a while, but she wouldn't go back to school and she wouldn't get a job. So my grandmother told her she had to go and she came back to Tulsa."

"She came back here?" Soda gasped. He always thought if Sandy ever came back he'd be the first to know. "I never saw her."

"No? Well, she sure saw you. Went by that old gas station you worked at and you were moonin' over some girl in a tuff car. At least, that's what she said. My father forbade her to see you anyway, so I don't know what she was thinking." Debbie shook her head. "It was like she went crazy. She disappeared and we only heard from her every now and then. She was drinking a lot. She ran into that Steve Randle -- you remember him? – up in Oklahoma City, and just got high. She wouldn't get help; she said it was her just punishment for the baby." Debbie stared at Soda stonily. "She overdosed in 1986. The way I look at it, you and that girl are the reason my little sister is dead."

"That ain't fair, and you know it," Soda hissed. "It has nothing to with Maureen. And as far as the other goes – yeah, we were foolin' around. But it was Sandy's idea, too. No one forced anyone to do anything." 

"You were a stupid greaser boy whose parents went and got themselves killed," Debbie spat. "She felt sorry for you."

In a wave, Soda felt 16 again, broken and vulnerable, and the boy left inside him wanted to weep. Instead, the man he'd become picked up his daughter's box and looked steadily at Debbie Hinton. "That may be true," he said evenly, "but she took off her own dress."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

School started on August 19. Ponyboy had been teaching English for almost 20 years. He wanted to teach high school in his hometown, but when he and Suzanne bought their home, he purposely did not apply at Central, his own district, so that he could be assured of never having his daughters in class. He applied to all the other high schools in Tulsa, and, after spending his first few years at Charles Page in nearby Sand Springs, he landed a job at Will Rogers. It was the school from which he and Darry had graduated, and Shayne and Will went there as well. Pony taught side-by-side with David Syme, his old mentor, and when Mr. Syme had retired at the end of previous year, Pony became the chair of the English Department.

"Will! Hey, wait up!" Shayne called after his cousin. It was first lunch and the boys had lockers on the same hallway. Will slammed his shut and waited until Shayne got rid of his books.

"Got lunch now?" Shayne asked, and when Will nodded, he said, "Walk with you?"

Will was a little startled. The boys got along fine, but they were too different to be friends as well as cousins, and Shayne was more popular than Will could ever hope to be. "Um, sure," he mumbled and Shayne fell into step beside him.

After a moment, Shayne said, "I got Uncle Pony for English."

"I did, too," Will replied. "American Lit."

"I've got a comp class," Shayne said. He grinned sideways at Will. "Do you think we're actually supposed to call him Mr. Curtis?"

"Yeah, in class, I guess. My father already read me the riot act on that." Will said. "I expect he's going to be Uncle Mister Curtis for the first couple of weeks."

A small smile came to his face as he thought about his honors English class. He was looking forward to reading and studying Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and he was glad to be doing it with Pony. Most of the time, he was too shy to begin a conversation, even with the uncle he'd loved his whole life.

Shayne glanced sideways at Will. His cousin looked more comfortable in the halls of Rogers High than he did in his own house. He loved school. He loved learning. He loved the idea that he was in a place where he was free to wonder about anything, and most of the time, someone would help him figure out the answer. His mother looked down on his studying and scoffed that he'd end up roofing for Darry anyway. But Will and Darry had a deal: if Will got into college, Darry would find a way to send him. Marie had no idea. Neither of them felt they had to tell her -- Will would be 18 by then, so why fight about it now?

Shayne, on the other hand, liked school okay, but to him, it was just a means to an end. He studied and got decent grades because if he didn't, neither the coach nor his parents would allow him to play football. Coach Bodler had been a first-year assistant coach Darry's senior year and remembered the older Curtis well. Will, bookish and not athletic, cringed when people asked if he were related to Darry, but Shayne puffed up proudly. He alternated between trying to ride Darry's coattails to a scholarship and potentially the NFL and wanting to make his own way.

Shayne pulled open the door of the cafeteria. The boys were immediately assaulted with the clatter of silverware, shouting and laughing and the steamy smell of salty spaghetti sauce.

"Buying?" Will asked, as he went toward the trays. Shayne held up a paper bag. Corinne packed Shay, Liz and Soda a lunch every day. Will, on the other hand, dug through Marie's purse for change.

"Yo! Curtis!"

Will and Shayne both turned. The call came from a table at the far corner of the cafeteria, filled with a couple of football players and cheerleaders – Shayne's friends and teammates.

"So," Will said awkwardly. "I'll see ya, then."

Shayne paused. He often wished he was closer to Will, since they were the only boys in the family. He had heard his father and uncles reminisce about their childhood and, despite the poverty and the dangers of violence, he was jealous. He thought about Maureen, who spent her whole life wondering about something they had right in front of them, and it suddenly seemed wrong not to make more of an effort.

"No, wait," Shayne said. "I'll go through with you. Wanna eat with us?"

* * *

The sun was thinking about setting as Soda and Maureen pulled into Crown Hill Cemetery. Maureen had been staying at Soda and Corinne's for the last two days and was leaving to go back to Kissimmee the following morning. When Soda asked her if she wanted to do anything special on her last night, she'd said shyly that she'd like to meet her grandparents.

They got out of the car and walked slowly up a small hill. Soda hadn't been there in a few years, but he could have found the gravesite with his eyes closed. "Here," he said quietly, pointing to a simple rectangular stone.

Darrel S. Curtis, Sr. Diane M. Curtis

1927-1967 1928-1967

DEAR

It had been their anniversary – they'd been married 20 years. (Soda was almost 30 before he realized that his mother was pregnant with Darry when they'd wed.) Diane was in her nicest dress and Darrel was wearing a tie. They had saved for weeks and had made a reservation at a fancy restaurant in Oklahoma City. They'd left early because of the almost two-hour drive, with instructions for dinner and homework and bedtimes. It had been painfully ordinary – Soda remembered ducking under his mother's kiss and she swatted his backside as she hurried after his father. They were late getting back, but Soda merely thought they were having a good time until the Oklahoma State Police rang the doorbell.

Maureen bent to run her fingers over the letters. "'Dear,'" she said. "That's nice."

"We wanted all kinds of stuff on there," Soda remembered softly. "We wanted Mom's maiden name, their birthdays and the day they died, and 'beloved parents' or something like that, but it was all too long. They charged you per letter, and we didn't have the money. Pony came up with that, just 'dear' – because they were dear to each other. And to us, too." He grinned crookedly at Maureen. "And it was cheap. My mama could pinch a penny and make it holler. We thought she'd appreciate that."

Maureen grinned back. "What's the M. for?" she asked.

"Mary," he answered. "Her grandmother."

Maureen stood still for a long moment, then said to the stone, "I'm so sorry I missed you." She bent her head, praying, and when she was done, said, "Do you think, if they had lived, it would have been different?"

"Well, yeah, sure," Soda said immediately. "Everything would have been different. I might have stayed in school, maybe Darry would have gone to college eventually, Pony wouldn't have … Pony would have had someone to really watch after him, I mean, and Johnny and Dallas …" His voice trailed off. So many possibilities had died with his parents that he couldn't contemplate them all without his head spinning. "Shoot. Yeah. It would have been different."

"I meant -- God, this sounds so selfish." Maureen took a deep breath. "I meant … with me."

Soda considered that. Would his father have been as angry as Darry was? Or would he have gone with him to Sandy's father, to help them work out what would happen next? Maybe Darrel would have agreed with Mr. Hinton, that Sodapop and Sandy were not ready to be parents, and agreed with her going to Florida. Or maybe, since they hadn't started sleeping together until after his parents died, maybe they wouldn't have created Maureen at all.

He looked at his daughter, her face so like Liz's, her eyes like her mother's, and even though it had only been two weeks, he couldn't imagine a world without her. "I don't know, darlin'," was all he could answer.

"I have another question."

"Of course you do," he smiled.

"Who're Johnny and Dallas?"

Soda kissed his fingers, pressed them to the top of his parents' stone, and then held out his hand. "Come on. I'll show you. And when we get home, there's something we need to do before you get on that plane tomorrow."

"That box," Maureen said.

"That box," Soda agreed. He'd shown it to Maureen the day before, when he came home from the station with it, but she hadn't wanted to open it.

She squeezed Soda's hand. "That box scares me," she said. "I don't know why."

"Sometimes it's scary to find out," Soda said. "It's scary to have someone finally tell you the answers, I guess. But I'll go through it with you if you want. You know you have to."

"No more secrets," Maureen said faintly.

"Nope, no more." Soda stopped her in front of another stone this one flush into the ground. "Now, let me tell you about Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The Curtis' basement was usually full of teenagers tripping over things and fighting over the TV and generally making a mess, much like the Curtis house of the late '60s. Tonight, however, it was quiet. Soda and Maureen sat on the couch, Sandy's box between them. The overhead light was on and the room was bright. After a long pause, Maureen looked at Soda – at her father – and, with a deep breath, opened the lid.

At first glance, the box appeared full of clothes. Maureen pulled them out carefully. They were maternity clothes. She held a flowery, flowing blouse to her chest and put her hands on the belly of it. _I was in there,_ she marveled.

Soda picked up a pair of jeans and felt in the pockets when he came across something solid. He pulled out a necklace, a small silver peace sign. "Lord Almighty," he said. "She wore this everywhere. I completely forgot about it." He could see it winking in the moonlight, between Sandy's breasts, as she had taken off her shirt.

He handed it to Maureen, who immediately fastened it around her neck. "Do you think that's all right?"

"Of course it is," Soda said. "Everything in this box is yours now."

"Oh my God – _look._" Maureen held up a Polaroid, faded and discolored, of two teenagers, the girl in a short blue dress, the boy in rolled-up jeans with his hair too long, his hand draped over her shoulder, in front of a brick building. "That's the two of you, isn't it?"

"It sure is," Soda said. He ran one finger over the border. "That was in front of the Dingo. It's gone now, it was where that steakhouse is, near Darry's – it was a place we hung out. I don't know where this came from. I can't think of who would have had a camera." He looked in the box. "Are there more?"

"Yeah, a few." Maureen handed the stack to Soda, who fingered through them slowly.

"This here is Sandy with Evie," he said. "She went with my buddy Steve. Those girls were thick as thieves. That's Sandy's mama, and that's your aunt Debbie, the one who gave me the box. I don't know this lady – must be her grandmother. Look, Maureen, here she is pregnant and that … Hell's bells, darlin'. Look at that."

It was Sandy in a hospital bed, looking tired and drawn but happy, with a baby in her arms. Maureen burst into tears. She had never seen a newborn photo of herself – her baby book started in December of 1968, when she was six months old. She buried her face in Sandy's old top and cried for a long time. Soda said nothing, just patted her head and waited for her to collect herself. Finally, she put the pictures aside and put her hand back into the box. There were a few more blouses, a couple of books and some 45-records, warped and melted. One was the Beatles, with "Julia" on one side and "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" on the other.

"She liked the Beatles?" Maureen said.

"She was in love with Ringo," Soda said solemnly.

"Ringo?" Maureen echoed. "Seriously? I thought everyone loved Paul and John."

"Nope. Ringo."

The bottom of the box contained a stack of letters, held together with a paper band. Maureen pulled them out. "Are these from you?"

"They can't be," Soda answered. "All mine came back."

Maureen pulled the band off. "Wow," she breathed. "You're right, they're not from you -- they're _to_ you." She looked at Soda. "Go on, open them."

"They're yours now," Soda said, finally understanding why the box made Maureen so nervous.

"They're not addressed to me," Maureen said stubbornly. "Opening someone else's mail is a federal offense."

Soda pulled out the first letter and, as he worked his way through the pile, read parts out loud to Maureen.

_I miss you something terrible. My granny and my father think we're done with each other, but I know you'll come. I'm sorry I said all those awful things to you, but my daddy made me. If he believes we don't love each other anymore, he won't think I'm with you when we run off. _

_My father sent me the newspaper. It says Johnny Cade killed a boy. That can't be right. Little Johnny Cade? Run off from the law, and Pony is with him? I hope he's all right. I hope they both are. You and Darry must be awful worried. _

_I can't believe Johnny is gone. I always thought Dallas Winston might come to a bad end, but Johnny? How is your little brother taking it? Y'all have had too much death, Sody. I wish I was there. _

_I'm so bored here. There's nothing to do. Gran just watches television all the live long day. I expect I'd even like to study if I could go to school. No Beatles here. She says they're sinful. I'm even trying to read. Evie sent me "Airport" but it's long and not very interesting. I don't think you'd like it much. _

_I wonder if you'd still think I was pretty. My belly is awful big. I wish you'd write me back. I wish I'd know if you still love me. _

Soda's voice was breaking. Maureen was sitting perfectly still, tears streaking her face. She reached out and squeezed Soda's hand. "I know this is hard for you, too," she said softly.

"It's just … it's not what I thought," Soda murmured. "Her letters all came back. I thought she left me, but she must have thought the same thing." He cleared his throat. "There are two more."

_June 12, 1968_

_Dear Sodapop: _

_Our little girl was born yesterday. I put your name down on the birth certificate. They didn't want me to, but now they have to put a notice in the paper. I know you won't see it, but it gives us some more time. She is beautiful. I think she has my eyes but Gran says all babies have blue eyes. I named her Julie Diane. Diane is for your mama, of course. I loved your mom. I don't know if I ever told you that. She was tops. Julie is kind of from the Beatles song "Julia" but I liked Julie better. It was hard having her. But it was worth it. I never loved anyone like I love this little baby. You will love her too. _

_Idon't mean to nag but you need to hurry._

_Your Sandy_

The last was scrawled on the back of a postcard.

_Nov. 16, 1968_

_Soda, _

_We're out of time. I can't believe you didn't come. Why didn't you write? I had to sign those papers, I had to – I can't raise a baby alone on the street and I have no place to go. How could you do this to us? I hope she'll be all right, my baby Julie. I don't expect her to forgive me. I'll never forgive myself. _

_S._

"That's all," Soda said softly, stacking the pile neatly. _That's all_. That's all it took to ruin a life.

"How can these be here?" Maureen wondered. "I mean, it sounds like she thought she was mailing them, so how come you never got them?"

"Debbie said their grandmother took them out of the mailbox before the mailman could take them," Soda said. "I don't know why she kept them. All these years, I thought it was Sandy who sent those letters back, but it must have been her granny."

"Do you have any of those?" Maureen asked.

Soda shook his head. "I got rid of them all when I moved out." But he could still remember the last one. He'd taken hours to write it. He'd almost asked Pony for help a dozen times, sure that if he could only find the right words, Sandy would come back to him. He whispered it to Maureen, like a prayer.

_Dear Sandy,_

_I wish you would write to me. I know your daddy's mad. Darry's awful mad too but we love each other and it will be alright. I can ask Mrs. Mathews if we can stay there, if Darry won't change his mind. But I think he will. He was just surprised. I am too but still I want to marry you. The rest don't matter. Come home or tell me where to get you. _

_Sodapop Curtis_

Maureen put the box on the floor and slid next to Soda, hugging him tightly.

* * *

An hour later, they ventured upstairs to the kitchen, both of them quiet and tearstained. Shayne and Liz were watching TV in the family room just beyond. Corinne was sitting at the table, paying bills, and when she saw Soda and Maureen, she got up and put on the kettle. "Tea?"

"Please," Maureen said, setting the box on a chair.

Soda kissed Corinne's cheek and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. "Memory Lane ain't all it's cracked up to be," he mumbled as he shut the door.

Liz stood timidly next to her sister. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she ventured.

Maureen nodded. "Yeah. It's a sad story."

"Things were so different then," Corinne said. "Young girls, they just didn't keep their babies. Sandy never had a chance, honey. Especially since her family kept Soda away from her."

"I know." Maureen looked around, at Liz and Corinne, at Shayne sprawled on the couch, and suddenly she knew, as sure as she knew her name, that this scene would be different if Sandy had kept her. Soda might have gone on to meet and marry Corinne, to have Shayne and Lizzy, but it wouldn't have been the same with an older child – and maybe an ex-wife – to support.

Maureen thought of her mother, Beth, so grounded and down-to-earth, and knew that her upbringing with Sandy would have been very different. No matter how Sandy had loved her, or wanted her, she was still a 16-year-old girl with nowhere to go. What might have happened, if she were desperate to feed her child? What if Soda continued to believe her lie, that she'd slept with other guys, and turned his back on her? Would they have made it on their own, mother and daughter? Would she be Julie Curtis now? Would Sandy have lived?

Maybe. But maybe not. It wasn't fair, what happened to Sandy or to Soda. It wasn't fair to either of them, or to Maureen, either. But maybe, Maureen thought, Sandy had made her own bad choices when it was over. Maybe the drugs would have called her anyway. What if the drugs got her while she was raising a child? What if she'd run off to Oklahoma City, to heroin and Steve Randle, with Maureen at her side?

Maybe things turned out exactly as they were supposed to.

"There buried treasure in there?" Shay was suddenly at Maureen's elbow, grinning crookedly at her, looking amazingly like Soda.

Maureen grinned back and pulled the lid off. "Sort of. Wanna see? After you check out this picture, your dad will never be able to fuss at you about your hair for as long as you live."


	14. Epilogue

_Hey everyone: Thanks all for kind words during this story. I'm not one to answer every review every time, but I really do appreciate that you took the time to read my story and tell me what you thought. As I mentioned before, this story is based in fact, in that a pregnant girl Sandy's age would have likely been forced to give up her child. Maureen's experiences are based loosely on my own – not every adoptee finds a first family so welcoming and a second family so understanding. Both she and I are very lucky._

**Epilogue**

**October 2000**

"Maureen! Hey, Maureen!"

Maureen waved at Shayne and started slowly toward him, her progress slightly impeded by her seven-months-pregnant belly. Her husband held her elbow and guided her through the airport passengers.

Shayne met her halfway and hugged her. "Glory be, you are huge," he blurted.

"Thanks so much," Maureen said dryly. "Nice to see you, too."

"Sorry, sorry." Shayne reached by her to shake James's hand and take the carry-on bag from him, then put his arm around the pretty brunette standing next to him. "You guys, this is Annie. Annie, this is my sister and brother-in-law, Maureen and James."

_My sister. _As it turned out, Pony had been right. When the shock wore off, Shayne discovered he did like having a big sister. In the last four years, the small gestures had turned into a real relationship. While Liz e-mailed and called Maureen asking about make-up and boys, Shayne's notes were both more infrequent and more meaningful. Now, the two of them shared a mutual love and trust, despite the 12 years between them, and Shayne routinely told anyone who asked that he had two sisters, one older, one younger.

"Is the surprise party still a surprise?" Maureen asked.

"So far, so good," Shayne replied. "Dad's been after me to come home this weekend so we could do some sort of family thing. I kept putting him off and finally I called this morning and told him I had this huge chem test I forgot about. I bitched and moaned about how I was going to be studying all this weekend and he fussed at me about putting stuff off until the last minute."

At 20, Shayne had gone to Austin College to play football and study education and sports science, thinking if the football thing didn't work out, maybe he'd become a gym teacher. To his surprise, he found his education courses fascinating and he had spent many a college break discussing curriculum with Ponyboy. He'd also met Annie at freshman orientation, and though the two had been dating for more than a year, this was her first visit to Tulsa with him.

"Did Will make it home?" Maureen asked.

"Yeah, we came together. He drove up from A&M and we took his car from my dorm. We got to Uncle Darry's around midnight." Shayne laughed. "Everyone's here. Dad's going to die."

"So he really thinks you're stuck at school?" James asked.

"Oh, yeah, and he's all bothered," Shayne said. "He keeps complaining that turning 50 is a big deal, and no one paid attention when he turned 40. I was like, 'Dad, I was 10,' and he got all offended. I told him I'd take him out during Thanksgiving break and he actually whined because his birthday is on a Thursday, it was bad enough we had to celebrate the weekend before or after, and he was certainly not born in November." He grinned wickedly. "So, all in all, I'd say he thinks no one gives a damn, which is pretty much what we want."

"Perfect," Maureen said in delight. "We'll just let him think that until tonight."

* * *

Soda looped his tie around his neck and knotted it dejectedly. Corinne came into the bathroom behind him, smiling at him in the mirror. "You sure clean up nice," she said.

"I suppose."

"Stop pouting," she admonished, "or I'll stay home too. Is the idea of a romantic dinner with your wife really all that horrible?"

"No, no, 'course not." Soda swept her into his arms and kissed her deeply. "I just thought the kids would be more … I don't know … something. I haven't heard a word from Maureen, and she's never forgotten my birthday."

"Your birthday isn't for five more days," Corinne pointed out.

Soda ignored that. "And I think it was right rude of Lizzy to be all set to come along then blow us off for her friends."

"She's 16, Soda, what do you expect?" Corinne checked her watch. "Come on. The reservation is for seven, let's go."

The restaurant they were headed to was new and Italian, about 20 minutes away from the house. Soda, claiming it was his birthday celebration even if the rest of his family didn't care, made Corinne drive.

Once inside, the hostess led them to the back of the eatery. Corinne was leading the way, but as they came around a half-wall partition, she stepped to the side.

"Cory, what are you --"

"Surprise!"

He stood there with his mouth open. Flashbulbs went off. People were clapping and shouting "Happy birthday!" As the spots began to fade, his guests came into focus, and his head began to whirl.

_Ponyboy, you sneak, you told me you were away this weekend. And Zan and the girls and Darry and Will – Will's home? There's Liz, the little liar, and Shayne – Shay! – and that girl, that must be his Annie. Maureen! And James! Oh, my God, look at her belly! And Benjy and Joan from the station and Rich and Patty from across the street and Two-Bit? Two-Bit's here – and Carol and the kids. Lord, is that Mrs. Mathews sitting there, with Mrs. Noland from the old neighborhood? _

Corinne squeezed his hand. "You look like you're going to fall over," she said.

"I might," Soda managed weakly, hugging her. "Good Lord. I … good Lord."

"Take a picture, Daddy's speechless," Liz said, thrilled, throwing her arms around her father. "Oh, my God, we've been planning this forever, I can't believe no one blew it."

Soda hugged her back, then went around the room and hugged everyone else, even Two-Bit. "I can't believe you're here," he said to his old friend. "Thanks for coming. And for bringing your mom."

"Are you kiddin' me?" Two-Bit said, raising one eyebrow. "Mama loves you, we wouldn't be able to leave her home if we tried. Besides, she and Miz Noland wanted to catch up." He looked across the room at Maureen, who was chatting with Suzanne and Jill. "I'm pleased to meet your oldest."

"Yeah, I was too," Soda said.

Two-Bit poked him. "Y'all better start mingling and noticing these decorations. Lizzy and Melanie have been here for hours."

Along with streamers and balloons and hubcabs full of fall flowers, there were several collages set up along the perimeter of the room. They were full of pictures – pictures of Soda's whole life, including a few faded shots of him with his brothers and parents. A large card read "Happy birthday, Dad!" and held pictures of the children when they were little. Maureen had sent Corinne some snapshots as well, so her young face mingled in with pictures of Shayne and Liz. There were dozens of pictures, old friends and dear relatives, spaghetti and red wine and beer and lasagna and antipasto, birthday cake and ice cream and lots of laughter and embarrassing stories. It was a perfect party.

Maureen leaned against James. "Thanks for coming here with me," she said.

"Sure. I like your family. All your family."

It had been a long road. Maureen was determined to get to know her birth father and in the first several months, afraid Soda would disappear, had nearly thrown her adoptive family aside to do it. Shayne and Danny, Maureen's older brother, had had the hardest time understanding her burning need to learn all she could about her past. There were tense moments and sometimes, weeks would go by without any contact. But finally, when everyone realized the Curtises were not Maureen's family _instead_ of the Tulls, but in _addition_ to the Tulls, things settled into a more comfortable space. Maureen had spent a few holidays in Tulsa and, with her parents' blessing, Soda, Corinne, Liz and Shayne had gone to Maureen and James' wedding. At the reception, Soda and Maureen danced to "Julia."

"I only have one complaint," James said now.

"What's that?"

"Most guys only have to deal with one father-in-law," he answered wryly.

Maureen kissed him and rose awkwardly, weaving her way through the crowd to pull Pony aside. "Hey," she said quietly. "That essay you let me read? It's amazing."

"Thank you," Pony said. He'd run across his old English theme a few months before and mailed Maureen a copy, thinking it might give her some insight into her father's childhood.

"I can't believe you were only 14 when you wrote it," she said. "It's wonderful. It makes me feel like I knew Johnny and Dally, and it helped me understand you guys, too."

"Johnny was a good friend," Pony said simply. He looked across the room at his daughters. "Abby has his name, did anyone ever tell you that? Abigail Cade Curtis."

"James has a friend who's an editor," Maureen said. "Small press, but a good reputation. Can I pass it on to him?"

Ponyboy started to object, then, all at once, he thought of Johnny, of Sandy's pregnancy with Maureen, of Dallas dying under a street light. He thought of missed opportunities and said, "Sure you can."

"Awesome."

"I'm going to grab a piece of cake, want one?"

"No, I'm good."

Darry and Soda were standing by the cake, which, of course, was chocolate and probably not as sweet as the confections Soda made from scratch. Pony reached around them for a plate.

"Well, that's it," Darry said to Soda. "We have both hit the century mark."

"Man," Ponyboy said, "you guys are old."

"You're right behind us, little brother," Soda said.

Pony licked frosting off his finger. "You know, I think this might mean Darry is officially pushing 60. Senility is about to set in."

Darry snorted. "Me? There were days you couldn't make it home from school with your shoes on. And I can still kick your scrawny ass." He looked sideways at Soda. "Besides, I ain't the one who's about to be a granddaddy."

Soda looked across the room at Maureen, who was chatting with Suzanne, one hand resting comfortably across her swollen belly. "I'm glad to be a granddaddy," he said. "I'm damn lucky to have the chance." He took a bite of cake and said, "They picked out a name, did they tell you? Margaret Mary. Maggie. Margaret was her great-aunt."

"Is the Mary because of Mom?" Ponyboy asked.

"I think so, partly. Her grandmother is Mary, too, she said."

"She's a nice girl, Soda," Darry said.

"Yeah, she is, but I didn't do that," Soda said. "Her mama and daddy did a fine job." He took a deep breath and added abruptly, "Like you did, with us."

Darry reddened. "Wasn't no big thing," he said finally.

"Sure it was," Pony cut in. "You think I'd've gone to college from a boys' home?"

"You did that yourself."

"Not really," Pony said mildly. "I studied my ass off because you scared me to death."

"I did not," Darry blustered. "You did that, that scholarship, you --"

"Darry." Soda cut him off with one hand on his arm. "Hell's bells, shut up, we're just sayin' thank you, that's all."

Darry pulled away, his face softening, his eyes bright. "Ponyboy's right, your age is gettin' to you," he said roughly. "You're goin' soft, Sodapop Curtis."

Soda looked around at everyone he treasured, all in the same room, and smiled lovingly at his brothers. "Yes, sir," he said. "I expect I am."

**The End**


End file.
